Germany’s main airports were paralyzed Wednesday morning as baggage handlers and firefighters walked off their jobs, part of a wider labor action to win higher pay for public service workers.

More than 2,000 baggage handlers, check-in counter workers, airport firefighters, and ground crew workers joined the strike at Frankfurt International Airport, Germany’s largest and Europe’s third busiest, said Frank Bsirske, Ver.di union representative according to CNN.

"Either the public employers make an offer with clear salary increases and without increased work hours, or we will show them our strength," Bsirske said at a rally at the airport.

 Frankfurt airport only canceled about 80 flights and said services would not back to normal until Thursday. Germany’s second biggest airport in Munich said it canceled 100 of 462 planned flights for Wednesday morning, spokesperson Peter Pruemm said according to CNN. In all, 142 Lufthansa flights were canceled, mainly on domestic routes, with Stuttgart, Munich, Cologne, and other airports hit.

Ver.di has rejected the government’s proposal of a 5 percent wage rise over two years, which would involve longer hours. The union is pushing for an 8 percent wage increase for its two million federal and local government workers. Both the union and the government are due to hold more talks on Thursday.

Transport workers in Berlin also shut down the city’s subway, bus, and tram services. Moreover, GDL, the union representing train drivers, has threatened a rail strike next week unless national railway operator Deutsche Bahn AG signs off on a wage agreement Friday.

A strike by GDL over 62 hours in November last year caused considerable disruption, with economists estimating that it cost 75 million euros ($114 million) a day.